Heidi Visits Peter's Blind Grandmother

 Grandma Lu put down her book. "Mercy, I do love to read. It's fun to read a book that I read so many years ago. I understand a lot more about what was going on in Heidi, Grandfather, and Peter's lives now that I am older. They were poor to be sure, but it seems that Heidi was put in their lives to make them smile and care about each other more than they ever had before."

She had read that while Heidi was with Peter, Grandfather would make repairs to the shed and cabin as well as making cheese and butter from the goat's milk. Grandma Lu smiled as she remembered her mother making cottage cheese and butter from their cow's milk. "Much different when I was a child. I can remember my mother putting milk in a big pan on the back of our cook stove to clabber. She could just see the big chunks of milk that looked kind of like small clouds. The longer they sat there water would surround the chunks of milk. Then she would put the clabbered milk in a large sheet of cheese cloth, squeeze all the water out that she could, then tie it onto the clothes line outside. The milk would dry in the hot sunshine. Then she would bring it in and mix whipping cream into the chunks until the milk would be in tiny little pieces. She could even remember the blue bowl that her mom used just for cottage cheese. That's because it was in her china cupboard sitting in front of her grandparent's china platter that was a piece of one of their wedding gifts. So very old.

After Grandma Lu finished her chores and put out meat to thaw for supper she smiled and thought, "I have a few minutes to catch up on my book now. It seems to me that winter is approaching soon in the story." She settled herself down in her easy chair and started to read.

As Grandma Lu read her book it was as she had remembered. Winter was approaching with lots of cold wind. Grandfather had kept Heidi at home because of the high winds and cold weather. Even Peter couldn't come to visit or take the goats to graze up higher on the mountain.

One day it started to snow and snow it did. It snowed like it was never going to stop. Even the windows got covered with snow. Heidi wondered if the whole cottage was going to be covered up with snow. It finally stopped and Grandfather went out to shovel the snow away from the door. What a surprise! Peter had made his way up the mountain to visit. Heidi and even Grandfather had lots of questions for Peter. Well, as you know Peter wasn't much of a talker and didn't say much, but eagerly ate the supper that Grandfather had fixed for them. Peter asked if he could come the next Sunday and he also said that his old grandmother wanted to know if Heidi could come down the mountain to visit with her.

Of course, Heidi, being Heidi wanted to go the next day, but it was four days before it was safe to ride on the sled that Grandfather had built to go down the mountain. Grandfather had Heidi sit in front of him and held onto her tight as anything so that she wouldn't fall off. When they got to Peter's hut he told Heidi that she could go in and visit but that as soon as it was starting to get dark to start home.

Grandma Lu frowned thinking, "Hmm, I wouldn't let a five year old climb a mountain in the dark." Then she read that Heidi just opened the door and walked right in the hut that belonged to Peter's mother and grandmother. "Hmm, manners? I think not." She continued to read how Heidi was accepted into their home.

Heide saw that the hut was very dark with narrow rooms. She wasn't scared and continued on until she saw a lady mending one of Peter's coats. She looked at Heidi with some curiosity and said, "Are you the little girl who lives up with uncle. Is your name Heidi?"

Heidi told the lady that she and her grandfather had come down the mountain on a sled. At first Peter's mother didn't believe her. Her grandfather was believed to be a very mean man and would never have taken Heidi in. Heidi heard another voice from a very old woman sitting in the dark. "Brigida, tell me what the child looks like." Peter's mother's name was Brigida. She told the old woman that Heidi did look like both of her parents. Heidi's father being her grandfather's son, Tobias, whom had black eyes like her mother and curly black hair like her father.

Heidi being the curious child that she was noticed that the wind was rattling the the windows and the shutters were loose making a loud noise. She told the grandmother that soon the shutter would break the window. It was then that Peter's grandmother told Heidi that she could hear, but could not see. It was very difficult for Heidi to understand that anyone could not see the beautiful flowers, the bright white snow, and the broken pieces of shutters. It made her a little scared and a lot sad and she started to cry. Grandmother and Peter's mother settled Heidi by asking her to tell them all about her life with alm-uncle. The man that everyone feared was a completely different man in Heidi's tale of a wonderful life with her home on the mountain with two goats. One goat was brown and one goat was white. But in Heidi's mind another small white goat was her favorite. It had no mother, or grandmother and seemed to Heidi to be a very sad little goat. She would remember to give it extra hugs and pats the next time she saw it. Yes, little Snowhopper needed Heidi to be her friend. Another thing Heidi had to remember is to tell Grandfather to bring his hammer and nails to Peter's grandmother's house and fix the shutters.

It was time for Grandma Lu to put down her book and get to fixing supper. She smiled as she crossed the dining room and saw her mother's blue and white bowl in her china cupboard.